


A soul for a soul

by StarryKnight09



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [24]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, FebuWhump2021, Gen, Irondad, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:46:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29764671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarryKnight09/pseuds/StarryKnight09
Summary: “The stone’s down there.” Peter mumbled from his side.“For one of you.  For the other…” Grim reaper guy trailed off ominously before continuing, “In order to take the stone you must lose that which you love.  An everlasting exchange.”That didn’t sound good.“A soul for a soul.”Not good at all.Febuwhump Day 28: “You have to let me go”
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138670
Comments: 19
Kudos: 131





	A soul for a soul

**Author's Note:**

> Fair warning, I made myself cry writing this.

“All right you heard the man. Stroke those keys Blue.” Tony said. God, he hoped this all worked out. When Scott, Nat, and Steve had appeared on his and Peter’s doorstep, asking for his help, he’d thought they were crazy, but Peter had been the one that’d convinced him to try. Along with the idea of possibly seeing Pepper again. And it’d actually worked. He’d figured out time travel and now they were so close to fixing everything, but he was still too terrified to hope.

“Trackers engaged.” Nebula announced as she activated the quantum realm time travel technology. She’d been the one that had elected to stay behind to monitor everything.

Tony glanced at the tiny ship in his hand, still unable to believe they were actually going through with this, and if the plan worked, they’d be able to bring everyone back.

“You promise to bring that back in one piece right?” The racoon asked.

“Yeah yeah yeah. I’ll do my best.” Tony replied, stuffing the ship into his pocket.

“As promises go that was pretty lame.” Rocket complained.

Tony ignored him as nerves started to make their appearance. He’d done the math, so he knew it was right, and they’d tested it out on Clint and it had worked, so there was no reason to be anxious, but he was anyway. It wasn’t just the unprecedented time travel thing, it was how much was on the line. They couldn’t screw this up.

“See you in a minute.” Natasha told the group with a smile.

Tony swiped his helmet on, glancing over to make sure his kid had done the same. Peter smiled goofily at him from behind his helmet and gave him the thumbs up. He shook his head. They were about to put their lives on the line to travel back in time to hopefully gather some of the most powerful relics in the universe and here the kid was excited, like it was a game. Tony wondered for the millionth time if it was a mistake to let him tag along, but Peter had nagged him relentlessly to help until eventually he’d had no choice but to give in or lose his sanity. He just hoped he didn’t live to regret it. Tony took a breath and the next second they were catapulted through the quantum realm.

After they dropped Natasha and Clint off on Morag, Tony activated the ship’s pre-set guidance system to take them to Vormir.

“This is totally awesome!” Peter grinned as they shot through space. Tony rolled his eyes but didn’t disagree. Under different circumstances, it would be.

“Whoa.” Peter said as soon as the planet came into view. Tony had to admit it was beautiful. As the ship descended through the atmosphere to drop down onto the surface, Tony couldn’t stop marveling at how alien yet exquisite everything looked. The entire planet was a mix of flat rock and water except for one area where a mountain stood, interrupting the flat horizon. The ship landed near it and they got out. The sky was alive and radiant with different shades of purple and a dazzling eclipse. He could barely keep his eyes on one thing for more than a second before another thing was dragging his attention away. Peter was doing the same thing beside him, gazing all around with his mouth cracked in awe.

“It’s beautiful.” Peter whispered.

“It is.” Tony agreed. “But I don’t see any signs for where we need to go.” 

“I think we go there.” Peter’s brow furrowed as he pointed to the top of the mountain.

“And why do you think that?”

Peter shrugged. “Just a feeling.”

“Sure, let’s climb a mountain because you have a feeling.” Tony joked.

Peter rolled his eyes and started walking toward it. “Come on old man. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can go home and have your victory shawarma.”

“I think Rhodey’s right. I’ve been a bad influence on you.” Tony smirked. “But I’m not climbing that.”

Peter turned to him and frowned. “Why not?”

“Kid.” Tony shook his head in mock disappointment as he tapped the nanohousing unit, making it obvious why he wouldn’t be climbing any mountains. “Hop on.”

Peter smiled. “You’re right. That’s a much better idea.”

Peter jumped on his back and they took off to the top of the mountain.

The trip only took a few minutes. They landed and Tony retracted the armor, glancing around for any sign of the soul stone but he saw no evidence of it anywhere. Maybe the top of the mountain had been the wrong idea, but if it was, then he had no idea where to go next. They couldn’t exactly cover the entire planet’s surface on foot looking for it.

“Welcome.” A voice said. Tony jumped and whirled around toward where it’d come from, at the same time engaging his armor. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Peter fall back into a fighting stance.

“Anthony. Son of Howard. Peter. Son of Richard.”

“He knows our names.” Peter whispered to him in horror. Tony took a step forward so he stood partially in front of his kid, protecting him. From what, he wasn’t sure yet. He couldn’t see anything more than the outline of a person in the shadows.

“Who are you?” Tony called out.

“Consider me a guide. To you. And to all who seek the soul stone.”

“Great. You tell us where it is and we’ll be on our way.” Tony said.

The figure stepped forward and Tony could finally see him. Maybe there was a reason the guy stuck to the shadows. He wore grim reaper robes that billowed and flowed around him even though there was no wind. The skin of his face was red and he had no nose. Definitely creepy.

“If only it were that easy.” The weird grim reaper guy spoke again. He kept walking toward them, and Tony tensed, but he passed them by and went all the way to the edge of the cliff. Tony noticed for the first time that weird etchings marred the stone ground as he tentatively followed the man to the cliff’s edge and peered over. It sure was a long way down.

“What you seek likes in front of you.” The red faced guy said gesturing toward the precipice. “As is what you fear.”

“The stone’s down there.” Peter mumbled from his side.

“For one of you. For the other…” Grim reaper guy trailed off ominously before continuing, “In order to take the stone you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange.”

That didn’t sound good. 

“A soul for a soul.”

Not good at all.

“Do you think he’s making it up?” Peter asked. 

Tony had been pacing around for the last twenty minutes and he had yet to come up with an idea. There didn’t seem to be any way around the creepy guy’s decree, and if that was really the case, then they were going to be the group that came back empty handed.

“No.” He answered.

“I don’t think so either.” Peter nodded from where he sat on a nearby stone, deep in thought. “Thanos left here with the stone…without his daughter. That’s not a coincidence.”

“Yeah. It’s not.” Tony shook his head. That was it then. There was no way to get the stone. They’d failed. “I hate to be the naysayer here, but I’m sorry kid. It’s a no go. Let’s head back to the ship.”

“What?”

“I told you when we started this that if it ever got to the point where the cost was too high, I was going to pull the plug. Well, we’re there. It’s time to go home.”

“No!” Peter stood, face angry. “We can’t just give up! We’re so close!”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Tony stood his ground. “We don’t for sure that everyone else is going to succeed. It’s not worth the gamble.”

“But what if they do? What if everyone gets their stone except us? What if we’re the reason we can’t fix things? You heard Scott. There’s only enough Pym particles for one trip a piece. If we go home, we can’t come back here. This is our one chance!”

“It’s not a chance!” Tony lost his temper. “It’s suicide.”

Peter crossed his arms and whirled away to face the cliff edge. Tony watched as Peter took a deep breath and whispered, “It’s half the universe. One life…for half the universe. That’s not a gamble and you know it.”

The worst part was he knew the kid was right. Wasn’t forfeiting his own life worth it if it gave them the chance to save half the universe? He’d been so sure this was going to work, but he hadn’t thought he wouldn’t live to see it. Deep down he wasn’t ready to go. He wanted to watch Peter grow up and he would’ve liked the chance to see Pepper one last time. But he’d do what needed to be done.

“You’re right kid.” He closed his eyes in resignation.

“I know.” Peter had never sounded so sad about being right.

“I guess we both know who it’s got to be.” Tony said, trying to stay brave as he moved to stand in front of his kid. 

“I guess we do.” Peter nodded solemnly. “When all this is over, the world’s going to need a true hero around to help them sort everything out.”

“It will.” Tony agreed. And Peter was that. He was the best of them. The truest hero Tony had ever known in every sense of the word.

Peter swallowed hard and threw himself at Tony, hugging him hard enough to almost hurt. “I love you.” Peter said, voice breaking.

“I love you too.” Tony hugged back and took a deep breath, his nose in Peter’s hair, inhaling his kid’s scent, the last time he’d ever get to experience it. Tears sprung to his eyes and he tried to blink them away. He didn’t want to make this any harder for Peter than it had to be. He heard Peter sniffle in his hold and he knew his kid was doing the same thing, crying but trying not to let him see.

“Don’t cry kid.” He kissed Peter’s hair. “I’ve had a good run. No regrets. Dying to save half the universe isn’t such a bad way to go out.”

Peter pulled back from him abruptly, frowning at him. “I’m starting to think we mean different people here.”

“No.” Tony said instantly. “No kid. It makes the most sense that it’s me.”

“No!” Peter took a step back. “The world needs Ironman. It needs Tony Stark. It doesn’t need me. I’m the obvious choice here.”

“No. You’re the best of us. You’re better than Ironman and Tony Stark combined.” Tony argued because he knew it was true.

“You’re just saying that.”

“I’m not kid. I’m not.” Tony closed the distance between them and put his hands on Peter’s shoulders. “You have your whole life ahead of you. And it’s going to be so amazing. _You’re_ going to be so amazing. These past five years, watching you grow up, they’ve been some of the best of my life. I’m so proud of you kid.”

“There’s really nothing I can say to change your mind?” Peter asked softly.

“No. Never. It’s never going to be you.” Tony squeezed his shoulders.

Peter let out a heavy sigh and he ran a hand through his hair before nodding. “Ok. Ok.”

Tony nodded and the pulled his kid in for another hug. One last time. When they finally broke apart, Peter had tears running down his cheeks and Tony could feel his own threatening to do the same. He grabbed the nanohousing and pulled it off, handing it over to Peter. He couldn’t wear it to do this. He had a failsafe programmed into it that would sense a fall and automatically activate the armor.

“Take care of this for me.” He said wetly, and Peter nodded as he took it, but he seemed distracted. “And when you get everyone back, tell Pepper I love her.” As far as last words went, he didn’t think those were too bad.

He didn’t wait for Peter to respond as he turned and took a step toward the cliff’s edge. A split second later, Peter grabbed his upper arm and yanked him backward, hard enough that he stumbled a few steps and fell to the ground. He figured the kid must’ve gotten cold feet and he was already thinking up ways to try to convince him when Peter tossed the nanohousing over Tony’s head. His eyes followed it to where it landed a good twenty feet behind him. His mouth gaped because he didn’t understand why Peter would do that, but when he looked up at his kid’s face for an answer and saw resolve there, he understood.

“Tell her yourself.” Peter said and then turned and started running toward the cliff’s edge.

“No!” He screamed, instinctively activating the gauntlet on his wrist. He sloppily aimed at the ground near his kid’s feet and fired. If it was between hurting him in a way he could heal from or letting him jump to his death, Tony was going to pick the former. The rock near Peter’s feet exploded and sent him flying sideways, rolling over the ground. Tony didn’t take the time to look at where he stopped. As soon as he’d fired the shot, he picked himself up off the ground and started running toward the cliff’s edge. Almost. Almost. He was there. He kicked off as hard as he could and felt both his feet leave the ground. He’d done it.

And then something slammed into him. Or someone.

“No!” He yelled again but it was too late. He and Peter were falling together. Until they suddenly came to a jarring stop. Tony felt the jerk around his hips and saw that Peter had wrapped a web around him and attached it to the cliff above. No. Tony looked down. Somehow he’d managed to grab Peter’s wrist and he held on now as hard as he could.

“What were you thinking? That was so stupid.” He couldn’t help the words that automatically crossed his lips. He was so scared and angry. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Peter was supposed to let him jump. How was he supposed to haul them both up the cliff now without the nanohousing. He tried to reach with his other arm to grab ahold of his kid’s arm but he couldn’t reach with the way he was dangling from the webbing. Although maybe that wouldn’t matter. It looked like Peter was close enough to the cliff face that he could reach out and stick to it. It should be easy enough for him to climb back up. He did it on skyscrapers all the time. That could work. “Pete, listen to me. Just…get your feet over to the rock and climb back up and then you can pull me up. When we get back to the top, we can talk this out. Ok?”

Peter said nothing, just looked down at the immense distance between him and the ground and then stared back up at him.

“Kid, come on.” Tony said, panic coloring his tone, but he couldn’t help it. He could feel Peter slipping. 

“You have to let me go.” Peter implored and Tony’s heart plummeted.

“No.” Tony shook his head, holding on as hard as he could. He wasn’t going to let go. Never. He’d hold on until the end of time. They’d hang here forever if that’s what it took. He wasn’t losing his kid.

“Let me go.” Peter insisted and Tony could feel him slipping further out of his grip.

“Don’t be stupid. Grab-grab onto the wall.” Tony pleaded. 

Peter shook his head.

“Peter, please. Don’t-don’t do this.” He begged and his voice broke as tears came to his eyes, blurring the image of his kid. His stupid, idiotic, self-destructive kid.

“I have to.” Peter said. “And it’s not your fault.”

Tony blinked to clear his vision and felt the tears run down his cheeks. “No. Don’t. Please.”

“I love you.” Peter said it like a promise and gave his arm a squeeze before letting go so Tony was the only thing holding onto him again. 

“I love you too. Peter please. Please don’t do this.”

“Tell May I love her.”

Tony was all out crying now.

“I’m sorry.” Peter whispered.

“Please no.” Tony didn’t know who he was pleading to. Peter. God. The fates. Anyone that could possibly listen and intervene to stop this unimaginable thing from happening.

“It’s ok.” Peter said, looking up at him, face serene, without fear.

“Please.” Tony begged one last time.

But Peter didn’t listen. He planted his feet against the cliff’s edge and kicked off, tearing out of Tony’s grip.

“No!” Tony yelled as his kid fell, reaching his arm out as if he could still catch him. 

Peter didn’t scream. The fall seemed to last forever and be over all too soon at the same time. He hit the ground, so far below that it was inaudible, but it might as well have been an atomic bomb going off for how it hit Tony. He could barely see him because of how far away he was but he could tell he wasn’t moving, his limbs were splayed like a puppet with its strings cut.

“No!” He let out a guttural scream, scrunching his eyes shut as he sobbed. He’d lost his kid. He couldn’t do this. This pain wasn’t survivable. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t go on. He didn’t want to. He wanted to hang there until the webbing dissolved and he could fall just like Peter had. The rational part deep inside him whispered he couldn’t, because if he didn’t return with the stone, then Peter’s sacrifice would’ve been for nothing. But right now he couldn’t bring himself to care. And then something happened.

A burst of light emitted from the stones below, so bright it was almost blinding. He closed his eyes and tried to shield them with his hand, turning his head away, but even through his lids it was blinding. And then it was gone.

When he cracked open his eyes again, he wasn’t hanging from the cliff anymore. He was lying in a shallow pool of water and everything had an orange glow. Where was he? Had he fallen and died to? Was this the afterlife? If it was, then where was Peter? He glanced around frantically until he spotted the shape of the mountain off in the distance. Had he…teleported? How? Why? In the next second he realized his fist was closed over something. He pulled it out of the water and opened it. An orange stone sat in the palm of his hand with the light emitting from it that almost seemed to beat like heart. The soul stone. 

A soul for a soul.

He wrapped his hand around it so tightly any other material besides rock would’ve been crushed. It hadn’t been worth it. Half the universe be damned. He’d never forgive himself for this. He crumpled forward and cried.

He had no idea how much time had passed before he managed to pull himself together long enough to push the button to return back to their time. The way it was set, they all arrived back at the same time regardless of how much time they’d spent in their alternate timeline missions. 

His feet hit the ground. Everyone glanced around at each other, quickly noticing the absence of one of their group.

“Where’s Peter?” Nat asked.

Tony fell to his knees.

Telling May Parker what had happened to her nephew was one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do in his life. And he’d been captured by terrorists, waterboarded, poisoned, beaten up by a supersoldier, fought against a purple god, and been stranded for weeks in space. But having to relive Peter’s last moments and his own failure as he watched her face crumple remained one of the worse moments of his life.

He had Pepper back, and he should’ve been ecstatic about it, but Peter’s death hung like a grim pall over everything. He had loved Pepper more than anything, but he couldn’t love her now. Not the way she deserved when his heart had been irrevocably broken by losing his kid. 

After the snap, he and Peter had only had each other. Peter had become a son to him in every way but blood. And he’d had to watch him die. He’d had to watch him literally slip through his fingers. After losing him, Tony didn’t know how to move on. He didn’t know how to live. Everything reminded him of Peter. Two weeks after the reversal, he moved out of the city to a secluded cabin in the woods and promptly fell off the wagon. Pepper broke up with him three months later. He didn’t blame her. Honestly, he was impressed she’d lasted that long.

Tony heard his front door creak open but he didn’t bother lifting his head up from where he laid on the couch with a bottle of scotch in hand to see who it was. Probably Rhodey. He was the only one that hadn’t completely given up on him yet even though he knew it was only a matter of time.

“You’ve clearly seen better days.” Came the last voice Tony wanted to hear.

Tony looked over at him, narrowing his eyes, but it didn’t change the fact that his vision was still blurred. He tried closing one eye and then the other, but no luck. Oh well. He took another swig of scotch, embracing it.

“What do you want?” He asked testily. “Because last I checked, you shouldn’t even know where I live.”

“You really think that’s an obstacle for me?” The man asked as he arched an eyebrow at him.

“Right.” He took another drink. “I forgot you were a wizard.”

“A practitioner of the mystical arts.” Dr. Strange corrected.

“Uh huh whatever. What are you doing here?”

“It’s nice to see you too.” Dr. Strange said sarcastically, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “As it so happens, I think you can help me.”

“In case you haven’t heard, I’m retired.” He grumbled, closing his eyes as if that would make the wizard magically disappear.

“You’ll want to hear what I have to say.” Dr. Strange said confidently. “I think you’ll find we can help each other.”

“You can’t help me Strange.” He said with more despair than he’d meant to show. “Not unless you can resurrect the dead. And last I checked, not even your magical ass could do that.”

“You’re right. I can’t bring someone back to life in the way you’re thinking. But I can still give you what you want.”

“I’m a little drunk right now, but I’m pretty sure that makes no sense.” Tony slurred, taking another pull off the scotch bottle.

Strange snatched the bottle out of his hands but it took a couple seconds for it to register. “Hey.” He protested.

“As loathe as I am to admit it, you’re the only one that can help me. The only universe whose Tony I can take without causing a catastrophic incident within the multiverse.”

“I’m sorry, the what now?” Tony frowned. “Are you speaking English?”

“Yes. Get up.” Strange tugged on his arm and Tony groaned.

“I’m fairly sure I’m the last person you want to help you. Haven’t you heard? I destroy everything I touch.”

“You are a colossal masochist. That is true.” Strange nodded as if that response made sense and Tony had no choice but to come with him as the man dragged him roughly off the couch.

“Before we go, is there anything you’d like to bring with you?”

“You mean besides the scotch you took away?”

Dr. Strange turned to face him, looking into his eyes as he said, “I’m serious Stark. If you come with me, you’ll likely never return here.”

“Here as in here.” Tony gestured to the cabin. “Or here as in…”

“Here as in your universe.” Strange answered.

Tony blinked a few times, trying to figure out how he felt about that through a thick fog of alcohol. He shrugged. It wasn’t as if he had any burning desire to stay. Or anything here he couldn’t leave. Then he remembered.

“Just one thing.” He mumbled and walked over to the kitchen, picking up a framed photo of him and Peter from when they’d posed for his internship picture.

As he walked over, Strange shook his head and took the photo from him, setting it down on the nearby counter. “You won’t need that.”

“What?” Tony asked, totally confused now.

Dr. Strange smirked at him and started waving his hands around, forming a green circle instead of his usual gold ones. “Where we’re going, you’ll have the real thing.”

Tony’s eyes widened but before he could ask anything further, Strange had grabbed him by the arm and yanked him through the portal.

“I still don’t see why we need him.” Was the first thing Tony heard as he they stepped through the portal.

“Yeah from what Strange says he’s a complete mess in their world.”

“We need him because Strange says we need him.”

“Exactly.” Dr. Strange said, announcing their presence. The group of Avengers were assembled in what looked like a spaceship. They all turned to face him. Sam. Thor. Bruce. The Guardians. Clint. Rhodey. Captain Marvel. Bucky. Tony grit his teeth at that one.

“Well look what the cat dragged in.” Rhodey smiled and crossed the distance between them to pull him into a hug. “It’s great to see you man.”

“You too.” He mumbled. This definitely wasn’t his Rhodey. This man still looked at him with love in his eyes instead of disappointment.

“Whew you smell like a distillery.” Rhodey joked and pulled away, eyes running over his entire figure hungrily as if feasting on the very sight of him.

“Ok… What’s going on?” He finally asked, directing the question at Strange.

“You didn’t tell him?” Sam asked. “You just took him?”

“I told him enough. It’s not as if I was taking him from a very promising life. Look at him.”

“I resent that.” Tony complained even though he knew it was true. “But some uh explanation wouldn’t hurt.”

“The Tony in our universe is dead and according to the wizard here we’re going to need him, or you, to be able to beat this thing.” Clint said.

“What thing?” He asked, still not understanding, and not even sure how to begin processing his own other universe’s death.

“That.” Strange said, pointing out the spaceship’s viewscreen.

“Is that…” Tony took a step closer as if that would change what he was seeing.

“Earth.” Clint answered. “Yeah.”

The entirety of it was surrounded by what looked like a red energy field.

“What happened to it?”

“You know how Vision died? That happened in your universe too, right?”

Tony nodded.

“Well, here in our universe, Wanda didn’t take it well. She sort of created her own entirely made up reality where Vision is still alive and they have two kids and play happy family, but then it apparently got away from her, and now it’s consumed the entire world.” Clint explained as if he was bored.

“And you think I can help?” Tony asked in surprise, still not completely sure that this wasn’t some booze-induced hallucination.

“I know you can.” Strange answered with certainty.

“Fine. Say I can. What’s in it for me?”

“There’s the Stark we all know and love.” Sam said sarcastically.

“In our universe, after the snap was reversed, Thanos and his army came through from a different timeline.” Strange said.

Tony frowned. That was different.

“That didn’t happen in your universe because Nebula stayed behind, but in ours she didn’t, and Thanos detected her and captured her.” Strange continued. “In order to win in the fight against him, our Tony Stark took the gauntlet and snapped, destroying Thanos and his army. And dying in the process.”

Tony rubbed a hand over his head. Wow.

“But I think the difference that the main difference you’ll be interested in is that in our universe, Natasha and Clint went to Vormir.” Strange explained and Tony felt something in his gut twist. “Natasha sacrificed herself for the soul stone.” 

Clint looked away as if he couldn’t bear the truth of the words. Tony knew exactly how he felt. But then the reality of what was said hit him, and he almost couldn’t get out the breath he needed to speak fast enough.

“In your universe Peter’s still alive.” He whispered, almost afraid to believe it.

Strange nodded sagely.

“Then where is he?” Tony glanced around frantically as if the kid was hiding behind someone and waiting for this exact moment to pop out and surprise him. Honestly, he wouldn’t put it past him.

“He’s down there.” Strange pointed to the glowing red Earth.

Tony nodded. “Ok. I’ll help you.”

“Whoa that is so trippy.” Peter said as Wanda’s control over him faded. He stared at his hands, turning them up and down, hands he now had control of again. Being mind controlled hadn’t exactly hurt, but it hadn’t been enjoyable either.

A gold circle appeared a few yards in front of him and Dr. Strange walked out of it a second later. Followed by… Peter’s jaw dropped. It wasn’t possible. Could he still be under Wanda’s mind control and not know it?

“He’s real.” Dr. Strange said before Peter could ask.

“Mr. Stark.” Peter said in awe at the man in front of him. “But…how?”

Tony walked forward and threw his arms around him, hugging him as if he was afraid Peter would disappear.

“He’s from a different universe.” Dr. Strange explained. “I brought him here to help us with Wanda.”

“Oh.” Peter didn’t know what else to say, so he just hugged the man back.

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you kid.” Mr. Stark mumbled into his hair. Peter heard him take a deep breath as if savoring his very scent.

“I think I do.” He mumbled, reveling in the feeling of his mentor solid in his arms, something he’d never even dreamed he have the chance at again.

Tony kissed the side of his head and pulled back, staring at him like he was something precious. Peter could see tears in his eyes.

“I lost you in my universe kid.” He said and then pulled him back into another hug. “And I know you’re not really my kid and I’m not really your Tony, but maybe we could still be something to each other?”

Peter nodded in the hold. “I’d like that.” He felt like he had emotional whiplash. One minute he was being mind controlled, and the next his mentor but not his mentor was back from the dead and hugging him.

“God, you have no idea how happy I am to have you back.” Tony mumbled and Peter knew exactly how he felt.

Strange cleared his throat. “I’ll leave you to it then.” 

“Hey Strange.” Tony called out as the man was forming his gold portal. “Thank you.”

The wizard gave him a nod and then disappeared.

“So you’re from a different universe?” Peter asked. It’d been a lot of information to take in.

“I am.” 

“But you’re…staying here?” Peter asked hesitantly.

“I am.” Tony said. “I’m staying kid. If that’s ok?”

Peter felt something in his chest unfurl for the first time since the final battle with Thanos. He smiled. “It’s more than ok.”

**Author's Note:**

> And there you have it! Febuwhump's officially over. Sorry to end on a major downer, but this prompt was just begging for it, and once I got the vision of Peter hanging from Tony's grip on Vormir, it wouldn't leave me alone. But I fixed it (kind of)! So maybe that makes it better? Thanks for reading!
> 
> Come hit me up on [Tumblr!](https://starryknight09.tumblr.com/)


End file.
